Certain chemicals possessing a sandalwood odor have enjoyed wide usage in fragrance compositions. The component of East Indian sandalwood oil (See E. J. Brunke and E. Klein, "Chemistry of Sandalwood Fragrance" in Fragrance Chemistry, E. T. Theimer, ed, Academic Press, p. 397, 1982), obtained from Santalum album (Linn.), responsible for its sandalwood odor has been identified as (-)-.beta.-santalol having the structure ##STR3## Other components of East Indian sandalwood oil that also possess the sandalwood odor, but not as intensely as (-)-.beta.-santalol, are (+)-.alpha.-santalol and lanceal shown respectively below as structures ##STR4##
Various laboratory syntheses of these naturally occurring sandalwood chemicals have been reported (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,167). In addition, non-naturally occurring chemicals possessing the sandalwood odor have been synthesized. The dihydro-.beta.-santalol (See Fanta and Erman, J. Org. Chem., 37, 1624 (1972)) having the structure ##STR5## possesses a strong sandalwood note. The 3-desmethyl-.beta.-santalols (See U.S. Pat. No. 3,673,261 issued 1972, and Fanta and Erman, 1972) having the structure ##STR6## also possess a sandalwood note.
Certain monocyclic chemicals possessing the sandalwood odor have also been prepared in the laboratory. A chemical (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,716, issued 1977) having the structure ##STR7## is reported as having a mild sandalwood odor.
The monocyclic alcohols (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,341, issued 1976, and Ger. Off. 1,922,391, issued 1970) shown respectively as structures ##STR8## also possess the sandalwood aroma.
Certain acyclic chemicals possessing the sandalwood note have also been prepared in the laboratory. An example is the chemical (See Ger. Off. 2,244,199, issued 1973) having the structure ##STR9##
Certain non-naturally occurring substituted cyclohexanols possessing the sandalwood odor have been synthesized. U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,310, issued 1980, described the synthesis of a fragrance material having the structure ##STR10## wherein the dashed line may be either a carbon-carbon single bond or a carbon-carbon double bond. A mixture of geometrical and optical isomers having the above structure is said to exhibit soft, warm woody notes rendering it useful as a fragrance material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,203, issued 1978, describes another substituted cyclohexanol mixture having the structures ##STR11## where R is ##STR12## which were also reported to possess a strong sandalwood-type odor.
These known materials, however, have complex bicyclic structures and/or are difficult to synthesize. Therefore, it is an object of the invention to prepare a cyclohexanol compound that is devoid of a complex bicyclic structure yet has a sandalwood odor. Yet another object is to develop a compound that is synthetically easy to prepare.